Category Archives: Southern Society

The Confederacy was in crisis, but Congress had apparently been content to finish up its legislative session and head home. President Davis asked them to stay, and 150 years ago today he laid out the important matters that Congress needed … Continue reading →

but a rebellion might slow it down some About three weeks after federal troops occupied Charleston U.S. mail service had resumed from that city. From The New-York Times March 7, 1865: The First Mail from Charleston. PHILADELPHIA, Monday, March 6. … Continue reading →

Another Monday morning in Richmond, another editorial from the Dispatch as it leads off its publishing week. The paper criticized the British Foreign secretary for looking forward to the North’s victory in America and the subsequent total eradication of slavery … Continue reading →

Walter Taylor, Lee’s Adjutant, observed a collapsing Confederacy. In a letter he wrote to his beloved Bettie 150 years ago today, Colonel Taylor objected to Confederate leaders blaming the people for why the war could not go on. After all, … Continue reading →

Inauguration Day broke cold and rainy. High on the dome of the capitol, unfinished on this occasion four years ago, Thomas Crawford’s posthumous bronze Freedom, a sword in one hand, a victory wreath in the other, peered out through the … Continue reading →

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 28, 1865: Treatment of the conquered Confederates–Handsome offer. The New York Times has an article on subjugation, which ought to have a place all to itself. It is the most refreshing instance of Yankee … Continue reading →

Not exactly good news for the rebel cause From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1865: The War in the Southwest. CAIRO, Feb. 21. – The Memphis Bulletin learns from gentlemen who left Selma, Ala., on the 14th ult., … Continue reading →

I guess desperate times really do call for desperate measures. In its Monday morning editorial the Dispatch calls for the Confederate Congress to let General Lee use slaves as soldiers in exchange for their freedom. As you can read, the … Continue reading →

it’s a shame Southern people aren’t doing anything about it From The New-York Times February 14, 1865: The Present Fatuity of the South. Was there ever such infatuation as that which now possesses the South? Did any people, on the … Continue reading →

Another home remedy? – for the uncommon cold? From the Richmond Daily Dispatch February 11, 1865: A medical opinion. –Hall’s Journal of Health, which claims to be high authority in medical science, has taken a stand against married people sleeping … Continue reading →